By Ambrose Gahene
MTN Uganda has revamped its innovative MyPakaPaka voice bundles to motivate customers by giving them more time to talk.
Somdev Sen, MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer, said the revamp is part of the telecom company’s drive to offer affordability to customers while maintaining value.
“In these times of economic difficulty, MTN is committed to offering affordable voice solutions that fit the budget of every customer. We are delighted to announce improved offers that provide significantly more minutes for customers to keep in touch with their friends and loved ones,” he said yesterday.
The voice bundles come at a time when more people have to communicate with customers remotely and with family and loved ones on phone due to restrictions on transport means.
MyPakaPaka was developed using customer’s usage behaviour and average spend to create various 24-hour voice bundles that are suited to each customer’s pocket.
The bundles are for varied durations of up 100 minutes a day depending on a customer’s usage pattern.
“MyPakaPaka represents one of the best calling options for the public who are using the MTN network. It offers customers great value, allowing them to connect day and night affordably and now with the revamp, there are even more minutes allowing for more talk,” Somdev added.
MyPakaPaka also comes with SMS bundles. To activate and buy MyPakaPaka, the MTN customer is required to dial *160*1# and select their preferred bundle.
In addition, the annual MTN Pulse Hip Hop awards that recognize and celebrate growth in the hip hop music genre in the country were held recently with a number of new artistes walking away with awards.
This year’s awards were bigger and better with the introduction of the Cypher competition that allowed new and fresh talent to showcase their abilities in an online hip hop rap battle that was subjected to a vote.
Charles Ameto emerged the first ever winner, walking away with Shs 1 million. The first, second and third runners up walked away with Shs800,000, Shs 600,000, and Shs 400,000, respectively.
Mr Somdev said the decision to support the awards is based on the fact that hip hop is still the most preferred music genre in Uganda, especially among the youth.
“Hip hop remains a favorite music genre for many youth because it allows them to express themselves and be who they want to be without limits. This is the true spirit of MTN Pulse. We are about creating a community of like-minded people who are young at heart and want to live life without fear or limits to their potential. That is why we are happy to be part of these awards every year,” he said.
This is the fifth year that MTN Uganda has supported the Hip Hop industry to organise the awards. As part of efforts to support the industry, MTN in 2020 sponsored the first televised rap competitions that saw several rappers contest in the street, free style and forest style, among others.
Popular hip-hop star, Navio, who walked away with a couple of awards, said the industry has continued to record steady progress with hip hop artistes getting favourable airplay on local radio and television stations.
“Hip hop artistes continue to shine out there. If you listen to the top 20 most requested songs on radio today, about 10 or more of them will be hip hop songs. And Uganda is one of the very few countries with hip-hop awards, which has supported us to grow,” Navio said.
The winners of this year’s awards categories included Male artiste of the year – Judas da Akbar – David and Goliath fight,Female artiste of the year – M.C Yallah – Dunia and East African Artiste Of The Year – Khaligraph Jones – Tuma Kitu, among others.
